


My Favorite Tune Is the One That Sounds Like Me and You

by starticker



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Ensemble Cast, Fluff, Implied Hunk/Shay, M/M, Matchmaking, Music, Pining, Shenanigans, The Castle of Lions ships it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-09-13 00:40:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9097885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starticker/pseuds/starticker
Summary: The Castle of Lions malfunctions again. Fortunately, the results are much less sinister this time around.(Honestly, Keith preferred the murder attempts.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Voltron Secret Santa 2016](http://voltron-ss.tumblr.com/), for [Nessie](http://nessielivesincave.tumblr.com/)! It was fun to write, and I hope you enjoyed it. :)

The first sign that something was wrong was when Shiro walked in for their usual group breakfast with a smile on his face, and Keith heard music. While Keith was fully willing to accept that this was just a new manifestation of his feelings for Shiro, something about the music—with instruments and a tune that were strange to his ears, and getting louder by the second—made him think otherwise.

Of course, the fact that the others could hear it too also helped.

"What's that sound?" Pidge asked, glaring up at the ceiling. She wasn't a morning person at the best of times, but her voice had extra snarl in it today, a fitting match to the bags under her eyes.

"It think it's music," Hunk said, and then winced as the music climbed into ever-higher notes. "Yep, definitely music."

"Nobody panic," Shiro said, his smile gone. "I'll go find Allura and see what's going on."

The order sounded nonsensical until Keith remembered that the only possible source of the sound was the castle; they all remembered the last time the castle had done something on its own. 

Shiro left the room at a sprint before Keith could volunteer to go with him, and the minutes ticked by. Although the others tried their best to ignore the music, by the time Shiro returned with Allura and Coran in tow, the volume was near eardrum-shattering levels. 

"Oh!" Coran said, shouting to be heard. "This is one of our classic love melodies! Romantic, isn't it?"

Shiro's expression was turning more pained by the second, and Lance ducked his head under the table, mainly so he could discretely cover his ears.

"Sure. It's, er, lovely. Now, how do we turn it off?"

Coran looked confused.

"Why would you want to turn it off?"

Shiro's answer was lost behind the sound of glass shattering somewhere in the background, and Keith gave in and finally covered his ears like the rest.

***

The best they could figure, the music was a fluke.

"It's from one of our entertaining programs," Coran explained, "although I didn't think they were still operational. It's supposed to detect the mood and provide a suitable musical selection for the occasion. Convenient for balls and meetings and such."

"Background music," Pidge said in disbelief. "Your castle provides you with background music."

"In a technical sense, yes."

"And how long until background music turns into walls opening up and sucking us into space?" Lance said, looking hunted. His eyes darted suspiciously from side to side, as if expecting it to happen right that second. For once, no one thought he was overreacting.

"Or until our gravity shuts off again."

"Or until our Gladiators start trying to kill us."

"Or our food cannons do," Hunk added when it looked like the others wouldn't mention it. "Although, if it's supposed to be for parties, maybe we'll get lucky. Maybe the food will come out completely different!"

The optimistic note fell flat, but the attempt managed to distract everyone all the same. Allura smiled at him gratefully.

"I think something of that nature is the most likely outcome. It's supposed to be handled by a different part of the castle than the defenses and environmental factors, after all." She paused. "Although I'll make sure the essential functions are temporarily set to manual just in case, just while the castle sorts itself out."

"That's probably for the best," Shiro agreed, and everyone left it at that.

Keith, however, could hear what he wasn't saying. Of the five paladins, Shiro was the only one who hadn't mentioned the castle's earlier attempts on _his_ life. Although he'd never explained the details, Keith knew it hadn't been good, and it was that thought that made him grab for Shiro's shoulder when everyone else turned and left the room.

"Shiro." Shiro looked at him, expression warm, and Keith almost lost his train of thought. "Maybe we should pair up when anyone goes wandering the castle. Just in case." He dropped his hand, right when it began to feel warm from Shiro's body heat. "It would make it harder to get anyone alone, at least, in case the castle wants to play mind games this time."

Shiro beamed at him, and Keith's insides went hot and shivery at the expression.

"That's a good idea, Keith. I'll make sure to let the others know."

He didn't leave immediately after he agreed, and it took Keith a moment to realize Shiro was waiting for him, the first pair to try follow the new rule. They fell into step side-by-side as they walked down the hallway, and every time their arms brushed, Keith swore he heard music.

Shiro didn't say anything, though, and Keith figured it was just his imagination.

***

The rest of the day was mostly uneventful, enough that Keith started to think that morning's music really _was_ a fluke. Since he was paranoid by nature and since the others had readily accepted the suggestion of a buddy system, however, he made sure to follow their new system to the letter. Shortly after their morning training session and lunch, he dutifully accompanied Hunk to the control room so he could send a message to the Balmera's representative, Shay. While that was kind of funny in an awkwardly, painstakingly polite way, it was also boring to watch someone write a letter, and Keith felt the itch to go do something, to train or talk to Shiro or bond with his lion. He fought the impatience down; if the music was the only thing the castle got up to while it was glitching, he'd consider them all lucky, but he doubted it.

As if to prove his suspicions right, the next morning, their food was blue instead of green.

"Okay, so, when I said maybe it would be different? This is _not_ what I meant," Hunk said, and he poked at the pile of blue goo on his plate. Some of it slid off the side and onto the floor, landing with a sad _plop_ at his feet. "Is it still edible? I mean, as much as it was before."

"I don't see why it wouldn't be," Pidge said, although she looked at her own plate doubtfully. "Maybe it's a flavoring additive, or something."

They all nodded in agreement, but as the minutes passed, no one moved to be the first to try it. Eventually, Shiro rolled his eyes and bravely shoved a heaping spoonful into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully while the rest of them held their breath.

"I think it tastes…better?" He swallowed and ate another bite. "Yep, definitely better. I can't explain it, though."

With that ringing endorsement in mind, Keith tried his own. Shiro was right; it was better, but only in the sense that chocolate pudding was better than vanilla pudding to someone who hated both.

Hunk loved it, though, and his eyes practically glazed over when he ate. According to him, it almost tasted like real food. The others disagreed, but oh well. As long as someone was happy, Keith supposed he could consider that particular glitch a win.

***

Unfortunately, the castle's malfunctions didn't end there. Despite their best efforts at fixing the castle, the glitches didn't stop; in fact, they started happening more rapidly in the following days, and frequently enough that Keith could barely keep track of them all.

The second day, Pidge stormed angrily into the kitchen, infuriated to find that her computer had been updated overnight. Yes, it was faster and yes, it could translate a dozen alien languages now, but it was the principle of the thing.

The day after that, Hunk woke everyone up by screaming. After ensuring that everyone ran into the lounge in full armor, he babbled out an explanation: apparently, the letter he'd sent Shay had been mistranslated when leaving the castle's computers, and many of the mistakes made it look like a love letter. Keith couldn't tell if he was excited or horrified that it had been returned in kind.

The third day, Lance could barely contain his excitement when the castle began deferring every decision to him. Everything from the castle defenses to training protocols to serving meals required asking for the blue paladin's approval, and nothing Allura or Coran did could fix it. Fortunately, that glitch passed quietly after about twelve hours, shortly before Keith was resigned to strangling him just to erase his smug expression.

For the following four days after that, the lights in the castle turned off strictly at mid-evening regardless of what anyone wanted. While that normally wouldn't be a problem, it apparently disrupted Shiro's training schedule enough that he actually slept, which led to Keith seeing him wandering the halls in his pajamas first thing in the morning, with bedhead and sleepy smiles of greeting. Keith, in response, was furious and frustrated all week, much to everyone's confusion, and he sparred with anyone who was nearby (at least until they learned to start avoiding him in pairs.)

But the worst part for Keith had to be day ten, when the Gladiators finally malfunctioned. It was two days after they'd all given up on traveling in groups (whether this was because of the seemingly harmless nature of the glitches or Keith's own deteriorating mood, he wasn't sure) and so naturally no one else was around to notice the change. And the change, interestingly enough, was subtle. He only noticed when he made it through the first seven levels in just under two hours, a feat that would normally have taken him double that amount of time.

The third time the Gladiator collapsed to the ground after only a glancing hit, Keith figured out why it had all seemed so easy: the training program was _letting him win_. 

Enough was enough. Keith collapsed his Bayard and stormed from the room, leaving the Gladiator in a heap on the ground.

"Castle," he yelled at the ceiling, "tell me where Shiro is."

The hallways in front of him lit up brighter in answer, and he followed them automatically, getting more annoyed by the second. He barely noticed that the lights were leading him to a never-before-explored part of the castle, and when a set of doors to his right opened up soundlessly, he didn't pause before walking through the cloud of steam into the room beyond.

"Shiro, this is getting ridiculous! How the hell am I supposed to train if—uh." 

His train of thought crashed to a halt, because while he'd been prepared to see _Shiro_ , he hadn't quite been prepared for the reality of finding Shiro naked to the waist in a hot tub. Keith hadn't even known the castle _had_ hot tubs, but apparently Shiro had decided to explore the castle more thoroughly than the rest of them during their months in space. Keith could only applaud him for that…or he would eventually. At the moment, it was difficult to do more than stare; between the cloud of steam curling around Shiro's chest and the expression of bliss on his face, he looked like something out of Keith's dreams, before they went in an inevitably filthy direction.

The fantasy was ruined when Shiro opened his eyes and his expression shifted into one of concern.

"Keith?" He pressed his palms against the rim of the hot tub, as though preparing to push himself out. "Is everything all right?"

"Your arm," Keith said, for lack of anything else to explain his staring. "It's wrapped in plastic."

It was; his metal arm looked like it was covered by a plastic bag, and the sight was odd enough that Keith almost found it more interesting than the water trickling down Shiro's chest. Almost.

Shiro flushed, skin turning even pinker under the steam.

"I wasn't sure if it was water-proof. I didn't want to electrocute myself, or anything!" Shiro cleared his throat, and shifted the arm in question pointedly behind his head. "But never mind that. Were you looking for me?"

Keith shrugged, surprised to find that his annoyance had melted away. Maybe it was the heat.

"Just wandering around." He tugged at his collar with one finger. "I'm actually gonna go, though. Too hot in here."

"Well, you can join me, if you want." Shiro smiled at him invitingly. "I feel like I haven't talked to you in ages. And there's plenty of room for two; this thing is enormous."

The idea of having a _friendly chat_ in a hot tub with Shiro was almost enough to short circuit his brain; fortunately, Keith had the perfect excuse.

"I don't have a bathing suit."

"Oh, that's okay. I don't have one either."

Make that a friendly _naked_ chat in a hot tub with Shiro. Keith didn't know what he'd done to deserve this.

"I, uh, have…things to do. Elsewhere." He waved awkwardly, remembering too late that it was with the hand still holding his bayard. "Next time, though!"

He bolted from the room, feeling like an idiot and a terrible friend. As far as he was concerned, this whole situation couldn't get much worse.

***

The music started up again the minute he got to his room. He wasn't sure, but he thought it might've been the same music as the first time, that love melody or whatever Coran had called it.

The same music, he realized, that had begun playing when he'd locked eyes with Shiro.

"I know what you're doing," he said to the ceiling as if that would in any way deter the random glitches that seemed determined to highlight his own pathetic feelings. At this rate, Zarkon wouldn't even need to defeat the paladins; Keith would probably die of embarrassment before their next battle, especially if he had to face Shiro any time soon.

The castle, in response to the severity of the situation, lowered the volume, but only enough that Keith could more easily hear the knock on his door that came a few minutes later. It figured, and when Keith opened it, he wasn't even surprised to find Shiro on the other side. He'd tossed his clothes on quickly, judging by the damp spots on his shirt, and his hair was glossy and wet. All Keith wanted to do was touch it—he'd almost bet it was still warm, like Shiro's skin or his smile.

"Sorry for dropping by like this, but I just wanted to check on you, you ran off so fast…" he trailed off, and then peered over Keith's shoulder, as if expecting a glitch to be right behind him. "Wait, is that the music from the other day?"

Keith shrugged, feeling exhausted. It was probably because he'd just completed two hours of training, he told himself, even if that was normally nothing more than light exercise to him.

"Probably." He glared at the floor. "You should probably go. Check and see if the others are hearing things or something; I'm fine here."

Rather than turn and do just that, Shiro's hands came up to gently cup his shoulders.

"Keith? Is something wrong?" Keith looked up and met Shiro's gaze, a rookie mistake. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

Maybe it was the concern in his eyes, or maybe it was the way his words came out, honest and true. Whatever it was, suddenly all Keith could focus on was the soft gray of his eyes. All he could hear was the crooning melody of the music, the notes singing of love and devotion, the vibrations making him feel it in his bones. He felt dazed, hypnotized.

The words came out before he thought to stop them.

"I want to kiss you. More than anything." Keith didn't hear a record scratch when the music abruptly stopped, but he might as well have. It would've been better than the sudden silence, and the way Shiro's fingers went stiff against his shoulders. That's what he got for taking the advice of alien music, apparently. "It's distracting, but I'm dealing with it. Sorry."

Keith made to pull away and close the door, but Shiro tightened his grip. Keith admittedly didn't try very hard to move away.

"How long?"

Although his voice sounded harsh, it didn't sound angry. Keith figured that reaction was better than the other possibilities, and when he shrugged this time, Shiro's hands moved with the motion.

"Long enough. Years." The exact date didn't matter, and Keith didn't remember it anyway; for all he knew, he'd always loved Shiro.

"You should've told me," Shiro chided, shaking his head. "We could've been kissing all this time." 

Keith was nodding along before he fully registered the words, but when he did, his eyes snapped up to Shiro's grinning face. With that expression, he looked boyish and shy. Keith wanted to kiss him stupid.

"...Repeat that?"

Shiro closed his eyes, like it physically pained him that Keith didn't understand.

"Keith, the Holts used to make fun of me for my obvious crush on you. The castle starts playing _love music_ whenever I look at you. Why are you surprised?"

"I thought it was me. Looking at you." But, he realized, that certainly explained why Shiro hadn't brought it up, hadn't asked why an Altean love melody would start playing during breakfast. It was stupid that Keith hadn't noticed that something was wrong earlier.

Then again, "wrong" was probably a poor choice of word. With Shiro's hands now sliding down his arms and Shiro leaning into his space, nothing felt _wrong_ at all.

"We shouldn't be allowed to make tactical decisions," Keith said honestly, right before he tugged Shiro into his room and closed the door by pressing him against it.

Shiro seemed perfectly amenable to this, judging by the way his hands dipped to Keith's lower back, pulling him even closer into the spread of his legs.

"Not for a while, anyway." Shiro's head was so close, and his eyes were sparkling. His human hand was hot against Keith's back, making him itch to feel it on his bare skin. "Do you want to see if we can get the music started again?"

Whatever that meant, Keith was already halfway there.

"It's worth a shot," he answered, and then surged forward to kiss Shiro just like he'd always dreamed.

They didn't stop for a very long time.

***

Several hours later, the music started up again, flooding the castle with its tune. No one could quite figure out why.

**Author's Note:**

> Come visit me at [my tumblr](http://starticker.tumblr.com/) if you want. All Voltron all the time, which is just the way it should be. ;)


End file.
